


Committed to You

by writingwithmolls



Series: My Heart Belongs to (All of) You [7]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Aphobia mention, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Marriage Proposal, Multi, Polyamory, Queerplatonic Relationships, aro/ace Ingrid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:15:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27422560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingwithmolls/pseuds/writingwithmolls
Summary: Mercedes reflects a bit on her partnerships and how the world seems to be against her, but not much matters when in the presence of her loves.FE3H Polyship Week Day 7: Domesticity/Rings
Relationships: Annette Fantine Dominic & Ingrid Brandl Galatea, Annette Fantine Dominic/Ingrid Brandl Galatea/Mercedes von Martritz, Annette Fantine Dominic/Mercedes von Martritz, Ingrid Brandl Galatea & Mercedes von Martritz
Series: My Heart Belongs to (All of) You [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1994713
Comments: 6
Kudos: 11
Collections: FE3H Polyship Week





	Committed to You

Mercedes was glad that Ingrid was a heavy sleeper as her alarm rang, trying to turn it off as quickly as possible. She had been awake the last hour, anyways, too excited for the morning ahead to sleep. It reminded her of when she was a small child, waiting up all night for morning to break on Christmas.

Stretching her legs, she carefully got out from underneath the covers. Much like Christmas, it was a cold day and she patted the carpet, trying to find the sweatpants that she had thrown on the floor the night before. Once she had proper clothes, she creeped around to the other side of the bed. Even in the dark, she could see Annette curled up, her arms holding tight to Ingrid.

"Babygirl, wake up," Mercedes whispered, running her fingers through her loose hair. Annette yawned, not opening her eyes and shifting closer to Ingrid's sleeping form. "Annie… today's the day."

With that reminder, Annette's eyes shot open. Mercedes was grateful that it didn't take too much convincing to get her out of bed. She watched as she unwrapped her arms as gently as she could from Ingrid, both of them holding their breath as the blonde shifted in her sleep, but curled up in a ball and returned to her slumber.

Mercedes attempted to motion for Annette to leave, but Annie hesitated. She grabbed her ring from the nightstand, slipping it on her finger before they creeped into the kitchen, closing the door as silently as they could on the sleeping Ingrid.

"You do know you don't have to wear the ring all the time?" Mercedes asked once they had finally gotten to the kitchen and out of possible earshot from Ingrid. "It's okay if it leaves your finger for a few hours in the morning."

"But Mercie, I'm engaged!" Annette turned on the lights, glancing at the clock that displayed that it was too-early-o'clock. She held out her hand gracefully, the diamond shining. "It's so gorgeous and it's from my fiancée."

Annette's giggle melted her heart, so she let her have the moment. Mercedes looked at her partner: she was wearing shorts with fluffy socks and one of Ingrid's many flannels. They insisted on the woman getting more clothes, but she would always just shrug and put another one of the flannels into the cart, claiming that it was clearly different from the rest. It hung off of Annette, hiding her shorts if not for her tucking the front into her waistband.

"We're going to look for your ring soon, right? I feel bad that I wasn't prepared." Annie hummed, taking a seat at the counter and continuing to stare at the ring. Even if it had been a week since the proposal, Mercedes couldn't get over the thrill she felt when she realized she would marry her partner. Five years of dating and ten of being best friends, she had a hard time imagining anything sweeter.

Mercedes retrieved the ingredients, lining them up on the counter. Thankfully, they had most of the parts of the recipe in the house, so the grocery trip for the week didn’t look too out of the ordinary. Ingrid clearly knew that something was going on—she had questioned why Mercedes and Annette had taken a day off to coincide with hers—but Mercedes doubted that she knew the real reason.

She handed the ring to Annette for safe-keeping as she began to mix the ingredients.

It was an inevitability that Annette and Mercedes would get married. They had taken their time, but their friends had been waiting for years for the question to finally surface. They were always content with going at their own pace, waiting until they were proud of their life and comfortable with making such a large show of commitment. Annette had known that the proposal was coming, just not when or how and had cried when Mercedes had gotten down on one knee.

They weren’t the only two in their relationship, however, and they wanted to do something just as grand for her. Ingrid had been their queerplatonic partner for two years and there was something just plain wrong with a commitment not involving her. At first they wanted a commitment to prove to others that what they had was real and plausible—but that quickly evolved into wanting to do it for themselves, the way that it should have been from the beginning.

Sure, Ingrid loved differently than both of them: but did it matter? All three of them had spent years learning how to communicate, what was okay and what was off-limits. Even if the world didn’t understand, it wasn’t for them to decide the intricacies of their relationship.

“How can I help?” Annette asked, wandering the kitchen as Mercedes rolled the cinnamon rolls into the pan. “Preferably something I can’t mess up.”

“Nonsense, you’ve been getting so good in the kitchen.” Mercedes laughed, handing her a bowl and the tray of eggs. “We had decided on scrambling them, right? Ingrid is going to eat a lot.”

“I can do that.” Annette kissed her.

Mercedes had learned quickly that the world was scared of people who were different. They didn’t like the unknown and wanted to snuff it out quickly and efficiently. She remembered what it was like to explain to her family that she was in a relationship with not one, but two women—but no, not like that. Romance made Ingrid’s skin crawl, but she still loved. She loved in careful touches and accompanying her to the store. She loved in delivering her coffee when Mercedes had been late to her shift at the hospital and she loved in helping Annette with her lesson planning for the week when it all got to be too much.

Mercedes had tried to reason it with her relatives, but her words had just gotten twisted into knives and tossed back at her. Emile had done her best to protect her, but even her brother couldn’t stop them from stinging, glad that she had urged Annette and Ingrid to stay home.

She hated that Ingrid had to argue about her feelings more than having to argue the validity of their relationship.

It was strange, though. To be so loved and accepted by both of her partners and her friends while being ridiculed by what seemed to be half of the planet.

Mercedes loved sweets for different reasons: she loved the colors of fruit pastries, the flaky shell of a croissant, the airiness of macarons. It would be ridiculous to claim that they were not equally enjoyed and even more insane to judge a cake by how flaky it was.

So she loved and ignored the people who told her how she should accomplish that task.

The breakfast they prepared was a lavish spread, since the meal happened to be Ingrid’s favorite of the day. It was easy enough to decide how they wanted to surprise their partner. The quickest route to her heart tended to be her stomach, so they had prepared a breakfast that would steal it away. There were sausages and bacon, eggs that Annette had managed not to burn, and a bowl of fruit that sat in the center of their small kitchen table. Of course the crowning piece of the meal was Mercedes throwing together a waffle bar so that her girls could put together whatever toppings they pleased and homemade cinnamon rolls that had been one of her many specialties.

Mercedes was proud of what the two had accomplished, and carefully played with the ring box in her hands. It was nothing terribly flashy—Ingrid wasn't one for feminine jewelry, settling instead for wearing a bracelet every day with the aro/ace flag. The ring was silver with wings etched into it, a simple piece that would be able to compliment anything that she wore.

The plan was simple: they would ask her if they would like to be officially committed and if the answer was no, then it was just a pretty ring that they had gotten to thank her for the support and her love.

Mercedes and Annie were still unsure how much commitment Ingrid wanted, but it was okay. There was room for discussion and negotiation and they were sure that whatever they settled on would be right for the three of them.

"Ah! I hear her," Annette said, doubling her efforts on the cappuccinos she was making. They had been miraculously quiet in the kitchen, apart from Annette’s tendency to sing about what she was doing in the moment. Even so, it had been nothing more than a whisper that played on her lips, her bangs falling in front of her eyes as she focused on her task. “Before or after breakfast?”

“I don’t think I could wait until after,” Mercedes said, looking at the massive meal they had prepared. She was tempted to take a sip of the coffee before Ingrid joined them, but she wanted it to be enjoyed together.

“What could you possibly be making so early...?" Ingrid wondered out loud as she made her way into the kitchen. She was wearing a different flannel from the one Annie had stolen, her short blonde hair was unkempt from a good night of sleep. "I could smell it from our room."

Her eyes widened once she stepped into the kitchen and saw the meal. She was clearly not wearing her glasses, and Mercedes giggled as she got close to the table, squinting to see everything that they had prepared.

"Surprise!" Annette cheered, her smile as bright as the morning sun. "This is all for you!"

"Well, I do request that I can have at least a bit of it," Mercedes added. "But it was made with you in mind."

Ingrid blushed as she turned to the two women, hugging them both good morning. She had never been comfortable with kissing, but Mercedes had fallen in love with her touches nonetheless. She always felt safe in Ingrid's strong arms, the way she would rake her fingers through her hair and hold her steady while the world swirled around them.

"What's the occasion?" Ingrid's voice was still gruff with sleep, having to clear her throat.

"No occasion, we just love you," Annette said with a quick wink as she handed out the coffee. It was in a mismatch of mugs that were placed on the kitchen island. "Although, we have a question and a gift."

"Oh?" Ingrid raised her eyebrows, eyeing the waffles that had caught her attention. "You don't have to give me anything... you know that."

"I guess, question first," Mercedes said. She felt a sudden shift in energy, a nervousness overtaking her just for a moment. She wanted to give Ingrid everything she wanted: everything she was too afraid to ask for herself. Even if her and her fiancée had come to the conclusion that Ingrid would be grateful for the option, she hated the idea of overstepping any boundaries. "Ingrid, we love you so much. I think I speak for both of us when I say that you are someone who truly completes us and your partnership and trust has made the past two years the best of our lives."

"You are the best, ever!" Annie added, taking Ingrid's hand, the one that wasn’t holding a mug. Mercedes always loved how Ingrid towerded over their smallest member, both wearing matching flannels. "Hopefully you know how much you mean to us, but with the two of us planning on getting married, we didn't want to leave you out."

Mercedes took a step closer as a shade of pink blessed Ingrid's cheeks. She had the jewelry box hidden behind her back, toying with it. "As with everything, you are welcome to decline and there will be no hard feelings, but you're truly something special. Ingrid, you make me want to become a better, stronger person every single day and the way you care so deeply for Annie and I... well, it's beautiful. We want you to be our partner forever, if it is what you would like."

She handed Ingrid the small velvet box, giving her a moment to put down her cappuccino. Ingrid had yet to speak, instead opening the box and gasping when she looked inside. The ring sat happily, greeting a new future if it was what she wished.

“Even if you don’t want any type of formal commitment, the ring is yours,” Annette kissed her cheek, having to stand on her tiptoes. “We love you, regardless of the form you want that to take."

Out of all of the reactions the two had expected to get from Ingrid, crying was not one of them.

Mercedes watched, shocked at first, as the tears came from her eyes as she covered her mouth, staring first at the ring and then to Mercie and Annie. "I don't want to intrude on your marriage—"

"It is never an intrusion, and you know that," Mercedes promised. "We love you."

When Ingrid whispered a "yes," both of them women hugged her, trying to avoid their own tears and failing as the joy overcame them. Their love was enough and it would continue to be in whatever shape they wanted it to take. Whatever was best for them, regardless of what others said.

And, of course, they had a beautiful breakfast and a chilly morning to enjoy with one another: the future reaching far ahead.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for all the love and support on this series. I'm so proud of how it came out, so thank you to the mods for a wonderful and inspiring collection of prompts and the work you put into this event! Once again, thank you Rory for your iconic titles and all my friends that both wrote with me and supported this project! It all means so much to me and I hope you enjoyed these pieces <3


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